FT MEfiDE 


4BS 

948 AN ADDRESS 

jf Copy 1 

DELIVERED BEFORE 

THE BIBLE SOCIETY 


OF 




THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA* 


MAY 13th, 1836; 




/ 


% 

AND PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF 


THE SOCIETY. 


j 

BY WILLIAM MAXWELL, ESQ,* 



CHARLOTTESVILLE : 



PRINTED BY MOSELEY & TOMPKINS. 

p'- K — 

1836. 


L> 








948 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


- —University of Virginia , il/ay 13^, 1836. 

Dear Sir : With great pleasure we communicate to you the fol¬ 
lowing resolution, unanimously adopted by the Society: 

Resolved , That the thanks of the Society be returned to William 
Maxwell, Esq. for the eloquent and appropriate Address delivered by 
him this afternoon;—and that a copy of the same be requested for 
publication. 

Sincerely hoping that you will comply with the wishes of the So- 
ciety. We are, Dear Sir, 

Your very obedient servants, 

H. R. TOMLIN, 
RICH’D MORRIS, 

B. JONES, 

J. D. DUDLEY, 

F. S. SAMPSON. 

Wm. Maxwell, Es<*. 


University of Virginia , May 13 th, 1836, 

Gintlemen : I have received your polite note, communicating the 
resolution of the Bible Society of the University' of Virginia, 
upon the subject of my late Address, and would, with great pleasure, 
present them with a copy of it for publication, as they request; but, 
having spoken it without writing, I have really none to furnish. I 
will, however, as soon as my engagements will permit, endeavor to re¬ 
collect my remarks, and if i can make such a report of them as I may 
hope will serve the cause, I will forward it to you, to be disposed of as 
the body may direct. 

Thanking you for the obliging manner in which you have commu¬ 
nicated the resolution of the Society, 

I am, Gentlemen, 

Your very obed’t serv’t, 

WM. MAXWELL. 

Messrs. H. B, Tomlin, J. D. Dudley, } 

Rich’d Morris, B, Jones, F. S. > Committee. 

Sampson, ) 




ADDRESS 


Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Society: 

I thank you for the honor you have done me, by inviting me 
to address you on this occasion. I should have been happy, indeed, to 
visit this Seat of Science at any time; to see so many of our geneious 
youth from all parts ©f our State, and many parts of our country, as¬ 
sembled here, and pursuing those liberal studies which are to qualify 
them for the various walks of life that are waiting to receive them; 
but I feel particularly so to visit it now, under your auspices, and to 
find myself here this afternoon, in the midst of this assembly, and in 
the bosom of a Society formed for the purest purpose, and which pro¬ 
mises to confer the most important benefits upon this Institution, and 
upon our whole State: 1 rejoice with all my heart in the establishment 
of such an association, and not merely for its work’s sake, but also be¬ 
cause it gives us an assurance that Religion, whose influences are so 
benign, and so indispensable to the prosperity of every Seminary of 
Learning, has come into this “ Temple of Science and Liberty,” and 
has found here a sanctuary and a shrine. I rejoice, too, that she has 
come into it in the best manner; not by compulsion or restraint; but 
freely, naturally—according to her own nature, that is, divinely—and 
like an Angel of Light, to brighten the scene about her by the beauty 
of her countenance, and the sweetness of her smile. And I must add, 
that she has come into it in her fairest form, in the body of a Society 
based upon the Bible, which is the common possession, and the com¬ 
mon bond of Christians of all denominations, and in the circulation of 
which, they ean all so happily and so harmoniously unite. I rejoice, 
then, with all my heart, in the establishment of your association; and 
I shall certainly feel myself most happy, as well as most honored, if I 
shall be able, by any thing that I can say, to animate and encourage 
you to a more earnest, zealous, and impassioned prosecution of the no¬ 
ble work in which you are engaged. 

And it is a noble work, indeed. For, what is it that you have un¬ 
dertaken to do? You have united yourselves together, in alliance 
with the great confederation of Christians in all parts of our country, 
to send the Bible, the Word of God, as far as possible, throughout all 
our land, and throughout all the earth. And what can 1 say in praise 
of such an engagement, beyond what is obviously implied in the cha¬ 
racter of the Bible itself? Undoubtedly it is a good work to circulate 




4 


any good book. For “a book,” as Milton says, “is not a dead thing,” 
but an energetic “ extract of the living intellect” of man; and, therefore, 
as he justly argues, must needs be “as active as that soul was whose 
progeny it is.” And, accordingly, we find that it has the power to in¬ 
fuse or inspire itself, by a subtle and peculiar process, into the mind 
and heart of the reader, and so to change the whole color of his cha¬ 
racter and conduct, and, in a sense, to fabricate his fortune cr his fate. 
It is a good thing, then, to circulate any good book. But the Bible, 
you will allow me to say, considering it for a moment as a mere man’s 
book, and dropping its divinity, (that divinity that stirs and speaks in 
every page and sentence of it,) the Bible is the best book in the world. 
It contains the collected compositions of the most extraordinary club 
or constellation of writers, historians, sages, philosophers, and poets, 
that the world has ever seen. It gives you the most important and in¬ 
teresting information, upon the most important and interesting subjects, 
and such as you will find in no other volume. Here is history, the 
oldest extant; the history of our earth, from its origin to its end; from 
its first kindling in Chaos, to the final conflagration that shall wrap all 
its glories and itself in one pall of flame. Then you have the history 
of man—of our own race—of the formation of the first man out of 
the earth, and of the first woman, subducted from his side as he lay 
asleep, or tranced, on the flowery sward, and dreaming, perhaps, (as 
the poet has beautifully imagined,) of the lovely apparition that waste 
beam upon his sight when he awoke, as he did, to find her there—be¬ 
fore him—in all her charms, for his eyes, and for his heart. Then 
you have the vision, (if it is no more,) of that happy Garden of Para ¬ 
dise, with those two sacramental trees, the Tree of Life, and the Tre 
of Knowledge—soon to become the Tree of Death; for the Serpent 
enters upon the scene, and you have the temptation—the transgression, 
with all its tragic consequences, (still felt or feared in all our hearts ;) 
the expulsion of the sinful pair from the Garden into the world, now 
cursed for their sake; with the Cherubim, and the Sword at the Easle , 
Gate, turning every way, to bar the returnof the guilty rebels to the Tn" 
of Life. Then you have the story of Cain and Abel, the first murde 
and the first martyr. Then you have the stories of the Patriarchs, 
sons of God, and sires of men—the astonishing and astounding fact of 
the Deluge, (attested more and more by all the most modern discove- 
ries of science,) with the salvation of Noah and his family in the Arli 
with two of every sort of living thing, from the awful wreck of Na¬ 
ture, and the re-peopling of the earth from the new stocks. Then you 
have the stories of Abraham, the Father ot the Faithful, and wor y 
to be so—walking and talking with God—entertaining angels ; 
wares—praying for Sodom and Gomorrah—but in vain ; for their sins 
were full, and their judgment come; and you see them destroyed hy 
a rain of fire and brimstone from heaven, (proved by the bitter ers 
of the Dead Sea, that still rankle around that silent shore;)—of Isaac 
and his beloved Rebekah—and of Jacob, who wrestled with the A yg d 
of the Covenant, and prevailed. Then you have the story of J • 
and his brethren—lull of touching incidents—sold as a slave i o 
Egypt; but rising, by the grace of God, to be Prime Minister in the 


5 


t of Pharoah—which leads to the story of the Israelites, emanci- 
pav by the rod of Moses, or rather by the almighty arm of Jehovah 
hir iself, their Liberator, who led them out with “a high hand” in¬ 
parting the waves of the Red Sea before them with his breath, 
ant! bringing back its waters again upon their enemies—all buried in 
its bed. Then you read how he led them for forty years fa the wil¬ 
derness, going before them in a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by 
night; feeding them with showers of manna from heaven, and water 
from the smitten rock. Then you have the memorable and magnifi¬ 
er t descent of Jehovah upon Mount Sinai, and the giving of his sa¬ 
cred and inviolable law, with all the “pomp and circumstance” of that 
tremendous transaction, so grandly and so graphically detailed, that 
you cannot doubt its reality. Then, you see, he plants them in their 
c n promised land, (casting out the heathen before them;) and now 
read of their prophets, their judges, their kings, their wars, their 
tiumphs, their defeats, their ark, their tabernacle, their temple with its 
geous worship, their dark idolatries, their captivity in Babylon, and 
tiieir final overthrow and dispersion when God turned against them in 
ire, and scattered them among all the nations of the earth—as you 
see them at this day. 

Now here (to say nothing of the New Testament,) is a narrative of 
in most striking and splendid facts that you have ever read —speciosa 
niracula indeed, (if they are no more,) and calculated to awake, arouse, 
iid affect the mind, beyond any other history in the world. Along 
ith all this, too, and interspersed among its various parts, you have 
lessons of wisdom, in a thousand different forms, in allegories, fables, 
jarkiing sentences, gems of thought, that seem to shew the depth as 
ell as riches of the mine out of which they have been taken. Then 
you have “all the law and story strewed with hymns,” and songs of 
victory, and elegies of lamentation, and graced with passages of power 
and pathos that “ move harmonious numbers” in every tuneful breast; 
for “all the books of the Bible,” as Cowley says, “are either most ad¬ 
mirable and exalted pieces of poetry, or the best materials in the world 
for it.” Truly, then, may we say, that this book is the very best in 
he world to improve the mind of man: And, accordingly, you find 
that no book is so popular, or has so much influence and effect in form¬ 
ing and informing the intellect of the great mass of the people of eve¬ 
ry Christian country. Indeed, so clearly is this the case, that you 
may actually guage the intelligence of any nation compared with that 
of any other, by the degree in which you find the Bible circulated, by 
preaching and reading, among its population. 

But the Bible contains something better than all this: it contains 
the only rational system of religion and morality that has ever been 
given to man. Do you doubt the truth of this assertion ? The proof 
of it is easy. Only shut your Bible tor a moment, and go to Pagan 
Philosophy—and go to her where you, gentlemen, would naturally 
look to find her—in her own chosen city of Athens, (the city of Mi¬ 
nerva, you know,) and see her therein her favorite haunts, the “olive 
grove of the Academy,” or the laurelled walks of the Lycaeum, and 
ask her any of those questions which make the science of Religion 


6 


and Morality, and sec what answers you will get from her lips. O! 
she will talk to you by the hour, or day, (as long as you will listen to 
her,) upon all the topics which you can suggest—and finely and fan¬ 
cifully enough—and you will be charmed with her volubility, of course; 
(for she has a perfect phluaria;) but, after all, you will be compelled 
to say that, with all her eloquence, she is most lamentably and most 
shamefully ignorant. Why she does not even know that there is a 
God—that is, a real one. She admits, indeed, that there is a Cause of 
Causes, a Mind of the World, a Sovereign Intellect, or something of 
that sort. But she doubts whether he actually made the world, which 
was perhaps coeval with himself—though it is possible, and even pro¬ 
bable, that he formed or fashioned it out of the primal matter, the ele¬ 
mental water which he found circumfused, and ready for his plastic 
hand. But if he formed, or even made it, it is doubtful whether he 
governs it. If he does, however, it can only be by general laws, by 
natural causes producing material effects, but not for any moral pur¬ 
poses, which, are, of course, immaterial. And as for men, it is quite 
clear from all their conduct, that he takes no cognizance of their ac¬ 
tions; but leaves them to follow their own fancies, and live as they list. 
Then she knows nothing, or next to nothing, of a future state of re¬ 
wards or punishments. She is not at all sure, indeed, that the soul is 
immortal. She hopes that it is, but she fears that it is not; and if she 
rather believes that it is, it is only because she has heard that it was so 
from the tradition of the ancients , (a tradition, by the way, evidently 
glanced from our Bible ;) so it is a matter of faith with her rather than 
of reason. 

Now, it is easy to see that, with such a creed as this, there can bo 
no Religion; for there is no God to serve and worship; there is none 
at least who you can know would accept service or worship, and why 
should you waste either upon him? And there can be no morality ; 
for the only basis of morality is Religion, and there is no Religion— 
at least there can be no such thing as duty; and there can be no such 
thing as obligation ; for there is no law , and no authority to enforce 
it. Accordingly, you find, that your Philosophy can only talk to you 
of the to kalon, the to prepon, the to ophelimon, the to epaineton, and 
all that. She can recommend virtue as something fine, and graceful, 
and profitable, and laudable, (and so it is indeed,) but she cannot tell 
you what it is, nor can she enforce its claims by any sanctions worth 
the name. So you see, as you might expect, that in spite of all her 
fine and flowery discourses, the crowd about her are sunk in the gross¬ 
est sensuality, and her warmest votaries are, for the most part, openly 
licentious in their lives, while some of the very best of them are strong¬ 
ly suspected at least of what we now call shameful immoralities, or 
even flagitious crimes. Such is your Philosophy. 

Now, open your Bible, a»d see the difference, the contrast. The 
very first sentence that you read in it is, In the beginning Gotl created 
the heaven and the earth. And as you read along, you find that you 
have his character more and more brightly displayed in all its glories, 
lie is omnipotent, and omniscient. He not only made the world, but 
he governs it. He not only governs it, but he provides for it, and for 


AH the creatures that are in it. [lis universal providence, indeed, com 
bined with his infinite benevolence, is clearly and beautifully taught. 
His Under mercies are over all his works. All creatures wait upon 
him , and he gives them their meat in due season He opens his hand 
and satisfies the desire of every living thing. But more especially 
does he care for man—for every man—and every interest and concern 
of every man. His eyes are upon the ways of man , and he seeth all 
his goings. The hairs of our heads are all numbered. His surveil¬ 
lance is at once comprehensive and minute, but it is also gracious and 
beneficent. Like as a Father pitieth his children , so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear him. He is even kind to the unthankful and the evil. 
In short, he is love itself—for we read that God is love. 

Here, you see, we have a foundation for Religion in the character 
of God—of a God whom we may worship with honor, and feel our 
nature exalted and ennobled by communion and fellowship with a Be¬ 
ing who stoops to accept the homage of angels, and will yet receive 
the worship and service of men. Of course, we wait for his law. 
And he gives it to us in a few words—in two commandments. Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart , with all thy soul , and 
with all thy mind; and, thou shalt love thy neighbor (thy fellowman,) 
as thyself. On these two commandments , we are told, hang all the law 
and the prophets —and indeed all the law, we learn, is yet more briefly 
comprised in one single commandment—in one single word—and that 
the sweetest in the world—(the same too which expresses the charac¬ 
ter of the Lawgiver)—love. Love is the fulfilling of the Law. 
What a code of religion and morality is here ! How simple! How 
sublime ! Who does not feel that it comes—and can only come from 
God? 

But in the actual condition of human nature, it would not do to leave 
even such a law, lovely as it is—to enforce itself by its mere beauty. 
Accordingly’-, we have the doctrine of a future state of rewards and 
punishments clearly revealed, and we are distinctly assured, that God 
has appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness , 
and when all mankind shall stand together at his bar, to receive their 
eternal destinies from his hands, according to the deeds which they 
have done in the body , whether they have been good or whether they 
have been evil. Thus we have a law of religion and morality, truly 
such, lovely and happy' in itself, proclaimed by the highest authority, 
and secured by the most perfect sanctions. 

But it may be said, that all this is only the religion of Nature, (or 
human reason, which we sometimes call by that name,) and it is so in¬ 
deed. But then it is the Bible that teaches it to her. It is the Bible 
that teaches Nature her own religion. For why else did she whisper 
it to Aristotle, or Plato, or even her darling Socrates ? The truth is, 
she did not know it herself. She had forgotten it, if she ever knew 
it. It had gone from her, like Nebuchadnezzar’s dream; and all her 
philosophy was, in fact only a vain and abortive effort to recollect it 
again ; (the very idea of Plato, by the way, who teaches, you know, 
that all knowledge is only reminiscence,) and she needed the prophet 
ol the Lord—she needed our Bible, to reveal it to her—and now in- 


8 

deed when it does so, she recognises it as her dream, and owns that 
the interpretation of it is true. 

But the Bible contains something over and above this dream of Na* 
ture—something, indeed, that she never dreamed about, and something 
that she does not and cannot recognize when it is revealed to her— 
nay, which she disclaims and struggles against, and would gladly put 
away from her entirely if she could, or dare; and which, in fact, she 
can only be brought to believe at last by a supernatural and overcom¬ 
ing influence from above. It contains the gospel of the grace of God — 
that is, the doctrine of the salvation of man by tiie vicarious 
sacrifice of Christ. For we read in our book, that all mankind 
are by nature dead in trespasses and sins, yet that God so loved the 
world that he gave his only begotten Son to die, that whosoever believ - 
cth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. And this doc¬ 
trine is, indeed, the very glory of the Bible. It is the point, in fact, in 
which ail the scattered rays of its sublimity and beauty can centre and 
unite. It is this, accordingly, which makes the Christian reader press 
it to his heart, and, if his mind is imbued with Greek and Roman lore, 
compels him to exclaim with Augustine, “ In Plato, Cicero, and other 
writers of the same sort, I find many things that are finely written, 
and some that are even moderately affecting ; but in none of them all 
do I find these words: come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy- 
laden and I will give you rest ” No—there is no such sentence in any 
of them ; and it is indeed worth all the classics. 

But it may be said that this doctrine is unreasonable, and it is indeed, 
as I have already admitted, above reason; yet it is not against reason. 
On the contrary, it follows fairly, and almost logically from those very 
principles which, we have seen, Nature recognizes as her own, coupled 
with the fact of the fall of man —a fact indeed which she will hard¬ 
ly admit, but w'hich is proved upon her by all that is about her, and 
within her; by the disorders in the natural and moral w r orld—by thun¬ 
der and lightning in their angry moods—by plague and famine—by 
war and desolation—by the strangeness of sorrow'—by the monstrosity 
of death—and by that horror of horrors, the dread of a death after 
death, a death that cannot die—aye, by her own conscious and coward 
heart. For that fact did not alter the nature of God, nor the nature of 
his law, nor the duty and obligation of man to obey it, nor the penalty 
for the breach of it. It only altered Nature herself—put her, as it 
W’ere, in an unnatural state—and so made it necessary for God (that 
is, if he were to shew mercy at all,) to introduce some such system of 
supervenient grace as that—and w'hy not the very one?—which the 
Bible reveals; by which, as we read, he can be just, and yet the justi- 
fier of every one that believeth in Christ. So, then, the doctrine of 
grace is not unreasonable; but Christianity, considered only as a science, 
merits indeed the compliment which one of your own Professors has 
paid it, when he says, that it “ may well be called the most philosophi¬ 
cal of all religions”—though I should myself rather choose to say 
that it is, in fact, the only real religion, and the only true philosophy in 
the world. 

And now, gentlemen, can any one doubt for a moment, that it is a 


9 

good work to circulate such a book? Is it not obvious, indeed, from 
even that small sample of its contents which I have submitted, that it 
must do great good in the world ? And if a man’s book, being the 
extract of his soul, must needs be lively and effective, much more 
must not the Bible, being as it is an emanation of the Spirit of God, 
be quick and powerful indeed ? Certainly we should expect to find it 
so; and, accordingly, we do find that whenever and wherever it is du¬ 
ly read, it produces the most sensible and the most salutary effects— 
informing the minds—improving the hearts—'yea, renewing the hearts 
of men—and “creating,” as it were, “ a soul under the ribs of death.” 
And if you say that it accomplishes, as undoubtedly it does, a part, and 
the best part ot its work, by an influence of the Holy Spirit that is not 
exactly in it, but only with it, (by the ordination of God,) that obvious¬ 
ly does not lessen its value, but only secures its effects, and so makes 
it not the less, but the more, your duty to send it about. For, in this 
view, it does not merely contain the revelation of the grace of God; 
but it is itself the instrument of it. It is thus, indeed, the sword of 
the Spirit, by which the Captain of our Salvation shall conquer all his 
enemies, and win the world to himself. And surely, then, all who call 
themselves Christians, (and especially if they have felt the power and 
sweetness of the book in their hearts,) will feel it to be their dearest 
duty to speed the word of God about them, and beyond them, to the 
land’s, and to the world’s, end. 

But there are some considerations, gentlemen, which seem to press 
this duty more particularly upon you; and I beg leave, very briefly, 
to suggest them. And, in the first place, you ought to circulate the 
Bible in order to promote the prosperity and permanence of our happy 
form of government. It was the wish, we are told, of that illustrious 
citizen'who desired and deserved to be called “ the Father of the Uni¬ 
versity of Virginia,” that this Seminary, which was his last and best 
work, should be, as he said, “a nursery for young Republican Pat¬ 
riots”—and such, I am persuaded, it is already, and shall always be. 
Yes, gentlemen, I am confident that I see before me, at this moment, a 
goodly number of “Young Republican Patriots’’ indeed. I know 
that you love your country. You love Virginia—the parent Com¬ 
mon wealth of most of you—and feel a just pride in her ancient hon¬ 
or,—and you love your country—you cherish that Union which binds 
all our sister States together in the bonds of harmony and love—and 
you wish to do what you can to preserve that fair inheritance of pub¬ 
lic liberty and happiness, which we have derived from a valiant and 
pious ancestry, and transmit it unimpaired to the latest posterity. But 
in what manner do you hope to serve the State? Some of you are 
probably looking forward, with generous ambition, to the day when 
you shall rise in our Halls of Legislation, and lift up your free and 
fearless voices in support of the rights and liberties of the people 
against all arrogation, from whatever quarter it may come; and cer¬ 
tainly if you shall enter upon public life with your minds and hearts 
deeply and thoroughly imbued with the principles and spirit of the 
Bible, (the be3t Statesman’s Manual that I know,) you may render the 
most important and invaluable services to your country. But all of 

9 


10 


v 





you cannot hope to serve her in this way*—yet you all wish to serve 
her in some way; and in what way can you do it more effectually - 
than by circulating the Bible, which may well be called the People s 
Friend? For, consider for a moment, what is a republican govern¬ 
ment? Is it not a government of the people?—“We the people’- 
a government of ourselves, in fact, only by the hands of our own elect¬ 
ed servants, according to the constitution and laws? It is self-govern 
ment, then. But what is to make a people capable of self-government 
" And what are we to do to make our own people—or the mighty many 
of them—able to order their own conduct, and administer their own 
affairs, with due discretion? Why, we are told that we must diffuse 
intelligence among them—and so we should indeed. And the best 
way of doing so, as we have seen, is by sending the Bible about among 
them. In fact you cannot diffuse intelligence, to any great extent, 
without it. The Bible must go before all other instruction, and pre¬ 
pare the way for it. Do you doubt the truth of this position ? Look 
at England—France—Germany. The Schoolmaster is abroad; out 
the Preacher was out before him. Societies for the diffusion of useful 
knowledge are doing much; but the Bible Society, and other kindred 
Societies, showed them the way. And such has been our own expe¬ 
rience. If you wish, then, to diffuse intelligence among the people 
you should, by all means, circulate the Bible. 

But intelligence alone will not qualify the people for self-govern¬ 
ment. For look about you for a moment, and tell me, how often d, 
you see the most gifted genius the slave of his own passions, and 1 ' • 
victim of his own vices, which his talents, in fact, have only served 
inflame, and exasperate for his ruin and disgrace? No—you mT! 
give him something more than science, and learning, and letters—yen. 
must give him a spirit of sobriety—a spirit of self-control—to make 
him master of himself; and that you can do only by giving him the 
spirit of religion and morality—the spirit of the Bible. And so you must 
deal with the whole mass of the people. It is not sufficient to give 
them knowledge, (if you could do that without the Bible,) but v 
must give them a spirit of order—a spirit of respect and reverence 
constitutional liberty—a sacred regard to the constitution which tl 
have established not only to limit the powers of their public servant . 
but (what they are still more apt to forget,) to curb their own fi 
freedom—to bind beforehand their own factious, and sometimes frai. 
will—in a word, you must give them religion and morality. Accord¬ 
ingly, you find the Father of his Country—our own Washingto 
proclaiming, as with the voice of an oracle, “Of all the dispositi 
and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Moral 
are indispensable supports.” But religion and morality, as we 1 
seen, are found only in the Bible. If you wish, then, to serve—per¬ 
haps I might say, to save your country—you will hasten to circu-lnv 
the Bible, as soon and as far as possible, through the whole mass of 
the people. Indeed, after what I have read of the fates of other ? 
publics, and what I have seen of the progress of our own governor.'' 

I am satisfied that we have no security, no pledge for the perman ■ 
of our free institutions, but what lies in.the principles and power oi m 


Word of God. And, at the present time especially, when I look out 
upon the scene, (and not with the eye of party spirit, but of Christian 
patriotism,) and see all the elements of mischief that are at work— 
when I see the Spirit of Corruption—and the Spirit of Agrarianism— 
and the Spirit of Abolitionism—and twenty other Spirits that I will 
not name—all mingling their drugs together, with infernal incanta¬ 
tions, in the caldron of Confusion, on purpose to brew up the blackest 
storm that has ever threatened to destroy the vessel of State in which 
we are all embarked—when I see the stoutest hearts appalled—and 
our stately ship herself seeming to shudder and writhe beneath the 
•coming blast—I do not look for safety to this man—nor that man—nor 
any man—no—but all my hope is here—not that we carry Caesar and 
his fortunes; but that we carry Christ and his Book. Yes, we have 
our Master, and our Bible on board; and having them, I do trust in 
God that our gallant bark shall yet weather the storm, and rising 
buoyantly over the billows that would swallow her up alive, you shall 
see her wend her way, safely and joyfully to the port of Peace. 

But your liberal studies, gentlemen, have enlarged your views. 
You are not only patriots, but philanthropists. You look beyond the 
bounds of your own country, and see millions and millions of your 
fellow-men bent down to the earth by the tyrant powers of Despotism, 
and Superstition ; and you long to liberate them. Then, send the Bi¬ 
ble to them; for where the Bible is, there is the Spirit of the Lord, 
and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there —and only there— is liberty. 
Send the Bible to them, then, and you shall see it solve their chains, 
and make them free indeed. Send it away, then, I say, to every shore. 
Bend it to France—our ancient ally—to strengthen the hands of our 
Fellow-Protestants in that beautiful country. Send it to Greece, (to 
which you owe so much,) to establish her recovered liberty on a better 
^asis—that she may never lose it again. Send it to Africa—by the 
ands of her liberated sons and daughters—to plant and propagate our 
ee institutions throughout that injured land. Send it to Asia—to all 
e ends of the earth—for the field is the world. So shall you best 
omote the cause of Liberty and Law throughout the globe. 

Nut you wish, gentlemen, I tiust, still more, and above all, to pro- 
li.^it/the final triumph of Christianity, and the reign of Christ. You 
iknow that the Bible foretells and promises a golden age—truly such—- 
a future one, and far better than that which our Pagan poets have sung 
about—when Astraea shall return from heaven, and Righteousness 
and Peace shall reign together throughout the earth. Yea, you know 
that God hath said, and sworn, that he will give his Son the heathen 
for his inheritance , and the uttermost parts of the earth for his pos¬ 
session. But how will he accomplish his design ? By human instru¬ 
mentality—by human tongues, and human hands—for the Bible must 
be preached and read in every language of man, before the kingdom 
of Christ can come. If you wish, therefore, to aid the progress and 
the triumph of your King, you must circulate the Scriptures. So his 
glory shall cover the heavens ; and the earth shall be full of his praise. 

Go on, then, gentlemen, I entreat, I exhort you, in the good work 
in which you are so happily, and so honorably, engaged. Double, and 


12 



redouble all your exertions to spread the Bible—the Word of God— 
the Word of Life—the Word of Salvation—throughout all our land 
and throughout all lands—even to the ends of the earth. In the morn 
ing sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hand; fo 
you know not whether may prosper this or that; but you know the 
the Lord hath said, that his word shall not return unto him void; bi 
shall accomplish that which he pleases. You know, loo, that he \vi 
give you of the fruit of your toils. Even now, while you are sowing, 
you shall have something to cheer and encourage you, by the way 
You shall have the pleasing consciousness that you are promoting ali 
the best and dearest interests of society—of your country—and c: 
mankind—nay, more—that you are advancing the cause ot Christ, am 
the glory of God—and in that day of harvest which shall come, ye 
shall share the spoils of the field, and the songs of the reapers, ant y 
the joy of your Lord: and, having turned many to righteousness , 
shall shine as stars in the firmament for ever and ever. Wherefore 
gentlemen, as the Apostle says, be ye steadfast, immoveable, alway. 
abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your ' 
labor cannot be in vain in the Lord. 


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